Chapter 63 — In which they have plans (2)

The grandmasters of the biggest guilds in Rubrun stiffened at Crimo’s words, and their eyes turned wary.

“Archmage Crimo, I must ask again. What are you saying?”

“Simple, grandmaster Pomegra. I was visited by Mr. Crow and offered seven excellent research papers. The price for them was also so outrageously low, I couldn’t bear to not buy them. But now that I have them and realized the depths of knowledge and information contained in them, I cannot think of not sharing them with someone. But alas, I also cannot share such a knowledge rashly, can I? So I’m burning my brain here trying to figure out with whom I should share them. Does grandmasters have any ideas on that?”

No one answered him.

They just stared at him with cold eyes.

Ah~ Truly beautiful. That rage that they couldn’t suppress, but had to suppress, so clearly visible in their eyes.

Crimo made a mental note to bring a recording of this meeting to Vern later and show him this beautiful sight.

Thinking about his younger brother, Crimo also recalled how a few nights ago Vern ‘sold him’ research papers of the guilds.

In fact, it was a transaction only in the name to make sure that the grandmasters, who were sure to have lie detectors, weren’t able to see through him.

What Crimo exchanged for those papers were seven jars of candied citrus fruit.

‘How would you react if I told you that your precious work was sold for a jar of simple snack?’

Crimo smile turned even more beautiful as he wondered about that.

He stayed silent for a minute, letting the gravity of the situation really hit his guests.

Though no one among them was stupid. They would know in just a few seconds in what precarious situation they were.

The first step of Vern’s plan was solidifying Crimo’s crumbling power.

And the most notorious woodworms were those seven.

There was even a saying in Rubrun: ‘The wings have nine feathers, one is a hermit and doesn’t take part in flight, second is strong, but covers for the hermit, so only seven feathers take flight’.

It was a runabout way to say the Archmage, Crimo, had no power and was hiding, Scarlen, who was the heir of a powerful clan had a great position, but because he was protecting Crimo, he couldn’t make a move, and so, the seven guilds were left to their own devices.

If Crimo was to step out from the shadows, he had to weaken those seven.

And the easiest way to do that was to make them fight each other.

Crimo recalled what Vern, who he met for the first time since Vern collapsed because of the curse and was no longer able to get out of the bed, said to him:

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— I’ll bring you sweet-like honey knowledge to turn it into a fine blade. I hope you will make good use of it.

Crimo did exactly that.

“I thought of giving them to all of you gathered here. But that seems… wasteful. So I decided to propose each of you a deal. I’ll exchange one random research paper with each of you for an equally worthy research paper. How does that sound?”

How does it sound?

How does it feel to hear that your precious work will be sold to your enemies?

Ah, and the word ‘random’ was a lie.

Crimo and Scarlen made sure to give each guild the research of their most hateful opponent.

One might think that a research paper was just a summary of a scientific experiment, but that was not true.

A research paper of a powerful guild was a treasure of knowledge about its inner-workings.

Who works on what?

What are their capabilities?

What budget they yield?

Who are they connected with?

Where do they get their resources?

Those information snippets could be estimated after carefully studying a research paper.

Of course, before selling those papers to Crow, the guilds would make sure to erase all possible traces, but nothing could be perfect.

And your enemies were sure to know about your imperfections the most.

Even though grandmasters didn’t say anything, Crimo could read their intentions from their eyes.

They would agree to this deal.

They had too.

Even if they knew that it was a trap that would only drag them down deeper and deeper.

They would obtain the information about their enemies now, but so would their enemies.

And Crimo would get another batch of research ‘tokens’ to wield.

Their enemies may come to buy that new token too.

So to keep up with them, the grandmasters would have to keep buying those tokens, while bringing Crimo fresh tokens to replenish his reserves.

Unless Crimo or their enemies went down, this cycle would continue until they were squeezed dry.

But Crimo couldn’t go down. At least not now.

Because there was no one, who could replace him as an Archmage.

And if Crimo dies, and there is no successor, and the throne stays empty for too long…

‘Then the entire Rubrun will go to shit.’

It happened not so long ago. When Crimo’s mother took the throne.

At first, the guilds didn’t want to accept her as a new Archmage, after the last one suddenly died.

But then, the throne stayed empty for too long and the ‘throne’ itself got impatient, got up and took the matter into its own ‘hands’.

— … It took just few hours… in just a few hours they begged me to take and calm the ‘throne’ as quickly as possible… Never underestimated the throne’s power, darling.

That was what his mother told him.

Though Crimo didn’t know the details, he could guess some things.

And most of the grandmasters here witnessed the throne’s power themselves.

They understood that the throne was not something to mess with.

‘That’s also why, unless you’re that lunatic from Flavun, you won’t try to cause a war.’

There were two rules about the thrones, passed down since the ancient times.

One, all thrones must have a ruler.

Second, all thrones must stay together.

Don’t mess up with those two and you will be fine.

“I see you need some time to think. Then I’ll give you the abstracts of the research I wish to exchange with you and let you go. Don’t let me keep you here.”

As Crimo raised his hand, Scarlen stepped out of the shadows he was hiding in and approached Crimo’s side.

Then he bowed deeply.

“My Lord Archmage.”

… He didn’t usually do that.

Well, he probably wanted to show those guild bastards how to show proper manners to their ruler.

After Crimo’s slight nod, Scarlen straightened up and handed him the prepared abstracts.

But after Crimo passed each one of them to the designated person, Scarlen leaned down, to his ears.

“My Lord.”

Crimo tilted his head to hear him better and indicate permission to speak.

“What should I do about those five…?”

Those five?

Crimo quickly figured out what Scarlen was asking about.

The guilds attempted to kill Crow three times.

As a result of the security backlash, five people collapsed and were left behind.

They were now rotting in Scarlen’s dungeons.

Crimo glanced at Scarlen from the corner of his eye.

His face was so close… Crimo quickly suppressed the urge to imagine what they must be looking like from the perspective of grandmasters, and replied with a cold tone, clearly audible for everyone.

“There is no need to concern someone who is just leaving with such a small matter, is there?”

Scarlen’s obsidian eyes shined with a dark light in response.

“Indeed.”

*~*~*